Presidential debate: Trump’s “lowest IQ” remark about immigrants, truth checked

HomeUS Politics

Presidential debate: Trump’s “lowest IQ” remark about immigrants, truth checked

Although he lied so much, President Donald Trump typically got here throughout higher throughout Thursday’s second and closing presidential deba


Although he lied so much, President Donald Trump typically got here throughout higher throughout Thursday’s second and closing presidential debate with Joe Biden than he did in the course of the first, when his fixed interruptions and unhinged conduct rendered it unwatchable (and in the end harm him within the polls). However one second revealed the inhumanity on the core of his politics.

On the subject of immigration, Trump defended his administration’s strict immigrant detention insurance policies by claiming that solely folks with “the bottom IQ” comply with the regulation by displaying up for court docket proceedings.

Maybe sensing that he was about to say one thing unlucky, Trump appeared to catch himself whereas the phrases have been slipping out of his mouth — however it was too late. Right here’s the clip:

Not solely is the concept that solely much less clever folks comply with the regulation corrosive to the rule of regulation, however the particular declare Trump made is fully false. As my colleague Nicole Narea detailed when Trump made comparable claims in January of this yr, nearly all immigrants present up for hearings:

About 99 % of asylum seekers who weren’t detained or who have been beforehand launched from immigration custody confirmed up for his or her hearings over the past yr, in keeping with new knowledge from the Transactional Information Entry Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse College, a suppose tank that tracks knowledge within the immigration courts.

Research from earlier years have additionally disproven the concept that most migrants will select to dwell within the US with out authorization somewhat than see their immigration circumstances by way of. But it surely’s nonetheless a central concept in Trump’s immigration insurance policies, together with those who purpose to maintain migrants in Mexico somewhat than letting them stroll free within the US.

The immigration a part of the talk generally didn’t go effectively for Trump. It started with him struggling to downplay new findings from attorneys appointed by a federal choose that the dad and mom of 545 youngsters — who have been separated from their dad and mom because of his administration’s “zero tolerance” coverage — can’t be discovered.

“These youngsters are introduced right here by coyotes and many dangerous folks, cartels, they usually used to make use of them to get into our nation,” Trump claimed, with out proof.

After Biden identified that “these 500 plus children got here with dad and mom” and the kid separation coverage “makes us a laughingstock and violates each notion of who we’re as a nation,” Trump replied by attempting to pin blame for his administration’s coverage on Obama and Biden. However as Dara Lind defined for Vox in 2018, there’s actually no comparability.

It’s not that no household was ever separated on the border underneath the Obama administration. However former Obama administration officers specify that households have been separated solely specifically circumstances — for example, if a father was carrying medicine — that went above and past a typical case of unlawful entry.

To be clear, the Obama administration’s document on immigration isn’t essentially nice both — as of final yr Obama nonetheless held the document for many deportations. However the Obama/Biden coverage was solely to separate households when there was a motive to take action. Trump did it broadly and thought it was a deterrent. And as his feedback throughout Thursday’s debate revealed, he’s by no means been notably involved concerning the humanity of these impacts.


Will you assist preserve Vox free for all?

America is in the course of some of the consequential presidential elections of our lifetimes. It’s important that each one People are in a position to entry clear, concise info on what the end result of the election may imply for his or her lives, and the lives of their households and communities. That’s our mission at Vox. However our distinctive model of explanatory journalism takes sources. Even when the economic system and the information promoting market recovers, your assist will likely be a vital a part of sustaining our resource-intensive work. When you’ve got already contributed, thanks. When you haven’t, please take into account serving to everybody perceive this presidential election: Contribute right now from as little as $3.





www.vox.com